Gerrard Hammers 'Pathetic' Galatasaray For Antics During Liverpool Loss

Liverpool have secured their place in the Champions League quarter-finals in an emphatic fashion, overcoming Galatasaray on a scoreline of 4-0 at Anfield this evening.

Coming into the second leg trailing 1-0 on the back of a defeat in Istanbul last week, there were fears among supporters that this could be a nervy evening on Merseyside. That seemed unlikely once the game got underway, with Liverpool utterly dominant.

They took the lead on the night through Dominik Szoboszlai in the 25th minute, continuing to pepper the opposition goal with shots throughout the remainder of the half. They would even miss a penalty just before the interval, with Mohamed Salah producing a poor effort from the spot.

While there was always a chance they would be made to regret those misses, that did not prove to be the case.

Liverpool doubled their lead through Hugo Ekitike just over five minutes into the second half, with goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah following soon after.

Stop that, Mo Salah 😮‍💨

His 50th goal in the competition scored in some style.

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/2VYwIh2cIc

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 18, 2026

Liverpool will now face PSG in the quarter-finals of the competition.

Steven Gerrard Hammers Galatasaray After Liverpool Loss

This was a quality performance from Liverpool, who produced perhaps their most convincing attacking display of the campaign up to this point. They were led from the front once again by Dominik Szoboszlai, who earned man-of-the-match honours for his efforts on the night.

Speaking on TNT Sports afterwards, the Hungarian suggested that some over zealous celebrations from the Galatssaray players after the first leg of the tie was a motivating factor for his coming into the return leg.

From the first minute we were on them.

Last game, I was giving an interview and I heard them celebrating. I spoke with a couple of guys and in Turkey this is usual that after the game you celebrate, it doesn’t matter if there is a second leg after.

I took it a little bit personally. I think a couple of us did as well.

I still have in my mind to never celebrate too early, maybe they didn’t mean it. That gave us a little push.

From the first second it was just all in.

Whether the celebrations were intended or not, they clearly had an impact on Szoboszlai and some of his teammates.

He was not the only one impressed with some of Galatasaray’s antics, with Steven Gerrard labelling their playacting early on in the second leg as ‘pathetic’.

People came here tonight wanting to see a fast paced match and they were rolling around the floor. They were an embarrassment tonight from start to finish.

The performance in general was poor, pathetic really. Then you’ve got players rolling around.

They got a couple of genuine injuries tonight, wrist injuries which you respect. As a professional you don’t want to see that.

But then you see people who aren’t really touched and are rolling around on the floor. You get punished for it because they played five minutes at the end of the first half and you get punished even more. There were 11 minutes (in total) at the end of the game.

The game could have been 11-0 or 12-0 tonight. Liverpool won at a canter.

Liverpool were excellent tonight, they made Galatasaray look bang average. But I thought their performance was pathetic.

Strong words.

Liverpool will face a stern test in the Premier League this weekend when they travel to take on Brighton in Saturday’s early kick-off, before a trip to take on Manchester City in the FA Cup following the international break.

Gerrard Hammers ‘Pathetic’ Galatasaray For Antics During Liverpool Loss

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